Advertising device



June 5, 1928.

J. J. HUBER ADVERTISING DEVICE Filed Sept. 12, 1927 Patented June 5, 1928.

PATENT ro-H'Afiimimos HUBER, or TUTTLINGEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR 'ro 'JosEPH innit, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Anvaerrsmcr 'DEvIo'E.

Kpph'cation filed September Th present invention concerns a novel form o-i' advertisingid evice which is op'er'at ed by tillB- DlOVIneTl tS of a door, gate, win dow, or the like, and which comprises a pivot'ally mounted semaphore bearing advertising indicia which may be integral with, painted or printed upon, or ren iova'b'ly connected with the armjoi' said semaphore, and also comprisin an opaque; cover to conceal the said semaphore when in one position, and means for throwing said sernaphore into a visible po'sit'io'n upon the operation of the said door 'or gate.

Some of the particular advantages residing in the device which is the subject of my present inve'ntion are the comparatively sudden flashing into View, approximately at the height of vision of a person opening a door, of a semaphore bearing an advertisement, so that the said advertisement will be more or less forcibly called to the attention of the erson operating the door, thus making the aclvertisen'ient much, more efi'e'ctiv'e than it it were merely painted or otherwise applied to the glass or; surface of the door.

Ah'other object of my invention is to provide an Opaque cover or housing to contain said semaphore when the dooris closed, and which cover may also hear suitable adver t'i'sing indicia.

Devices are known in which swinging advertisii'ig signs are applied to doors and are operated. by the opening or closing of the door, but in all, of these devices the advertising sign is visible both in its horizontal and vertical position, and, obviously, it the reading matter is in its normal position when the sign is horizontal it will not be easily read when the sign is in the vertical position; and hence the advertising value of such a sign is only about one-half that of the advertising sign which is constructed in accordance with any present invention For example, the opaque cover concealing the semaphore may also hear suitable advertisements whichwould be so applied as to be legible and readable when the door is closed, and it is also within the scope of my invention to have one type of advertising sign attached to the opaque cover and another sign to the semaphore;

Another objectof my invention is to provide asemaphore arm which is slotted, or otherwise rendered adaptable for the ready i2, 1'9'27. Serial No. 219,107.

' thereof Fig. 2 is a part ial side elevational View showing one of the means for operating or moving the said semaphore; I

F11 g. 3 1s a sectional and partial' ele'vational side view showing the m'ethod of swinging the said semaphore and also the means em ployed for insu riilg its ejection from the vertical position and the means i'or limiting its downward movement at the horizontal position;

support and shaft along the line IVIV 01 F 1, l'ooking downwards; and I Fig. 5 is aperspective view of an inclined plane co ope rating with a roller which actuates the pull rod connected with the semaphore. V

Figure 6 is a atioi e My advertising device is norn'ially attached, as shown in Fig. 1, to a. door 1 being secured thereto by a supporting and mounting plate 2 near the edge of the door by means of screws passing through the screwholes 3. The said plate which may be convenilently made of metal stamped to conform to the desired shape, is connected to the semaphore 4 by means of the pivot 5. y A hesemaph re arm is provided with a flanged frame 6 which may bear a suitable advertising si n 7 having indicia 8 There is also provided an (n-111 9 pivoted to the C Onal view of a modifisemaphore 4-by the pivot 10 and which arm is connectedto a rod lljthread'ed s ale upper end thereof 12 and wh ich part is screwed into a slotted shaft 13 which bears a roller support l l khaving a roller 15, at the upper endthereof. guide 16attached or integral with the supporting plate 2 serves to guide the rod 11 and also to retain in the compressed position a spring 1 7 whichis wrapped around the rod 11, and which by Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view of the being retained by the flange head of the arm 9 will tend to turn the semaphore about its pivot if the same should be in the vertical position, and therefore tend to throw it into the horizontal position, this movement being aided and accelerated by gravity.

in order to conceal the semaphore 4 when it is in the vertical position as it appears in Fig. 3, and in dotted lines in Fig. 1, there is provided an opaque cover 18 which is attached to the said back supporting plate 2 and spaced therefrom a sufficient distance to permit of the entrance of the semaphore 41 by means of a plurality of machine screws 19 having sleeves 20 thereon and which screws engage suitable threaded holes 21 in the supporting plate 2. Two of the said sleeves 20 may be made of resilient material such as rubber, and perform a dual function ofspacing the opaque cover 18 from the said back plate 2, and also to limit the motion of the semaphore 4- from substantially the vertical to substantially the horizontal position. As for instance, in Fig. 1, the screw 19 with its sleeve 20 prevents the further downward movement of the semaphore l thus keeping it in substantially a horizontal position and in which position the advertising indicia will be readable.

In order to retract the semaphore 4 from the horizontal position to the vertical position an inclined plane 22 integral with a supporting plate'23 is attached to the door frame 2 1- by screwing the same to the said door frame. It will be seen that the roller 15 while out of engagement with the incline 22 when the door is open will engage the same when the door starts to close, as shown in Fig. 2, and while riding up the incline 22 will exert an upward pull upon the shaft 13 and the rod 11 so that the semaphore 4 will be pulled into a substantially vertical position, while at the same time the spring 17 will be placed under compression, Inasmuch as the rod 11, which is threaded at its upper end 12 for a substantial distance, is screwed into a threaded central opening in the shaft 13, the length of the said shaft and rod can be accurately controlled. so as to insure complete movement of the semaphore 4 from one position to the other. The shaft 13 is guided by a guide 25 integral with a flange 26 which is attached to the me treme upper portion of the door, and which shaft-guide has at one side of the interior a suitable projection 27 engaging a slot 28 in the said shaft 13 to prevent the same from turning and limiting the same to an up-and-down reciprocating motion. This is necessary in order to prevent a change in the effective length of the combined rod, shaft. and roller support so that when the device has once been fastened to the door and adjusted, it will continue to function at every opening and closing of the door. This construction is more clearly shown in the enlarged cross-sectional view shown in Fig. a.

If the door 1 closes flush with its frame 2-1 then the incline 22 with its supporting flange 23 is secured flush against the frame. If, however, the construction of the door is substantially as in Fig. 2, it will be necessary to space part- 23 a distance away from the sill 29 (Fig. to a thickness equal to the thickness of the part of the door that does not enter the frame. Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 6, the incline 22 may be somewhat altered in shape-and an opening may be cutin the door to allow the incline 22 to pass through the door when the same is closed. This type of construction is necessary if the device is to be attached to the inside of an outwardly swinging door.

In order to alloy of the changing of the advertising sign 7 retained within the pe ripheral groove 6 of the semaphore i, a small projection 30 is formed on the said sema phore, it being contemplated that the adver tising sign 7 being of such flexible nature as for example paper or the like, may be pushed over the said projection to the ex treme end of the peripheral groove 6 and may be kept from falling downwards when the semaphore is in the vertical position by the said projection 30;

The opaque cover 18 may be either left blank, or, more suitably, provided with advertising lettering or the like. In order to make mydevice applicable to both right and left hand doors, the pivot 10 on the semaphore 4 has a counterpart 10 so that by simply changing the pivotal connection from 10 to 10 and turning the semaphore 4 180 about its pivot it may be applicable to a door opening in a sense opposite to that shown in Fig. 1. i

In order to allow the semaphore 4 to enter the vertical. position, one of the screws 19, (in Fig. 1) namely the screw 19, is merely a dummy screw so as to preserve the symmetrical and ornamental appearance of the opaque cover 18. If the device is to be used on a door opening in a sense opposite to that shown in F 1, then this screw is transferred to a position immediately opposite and on a horizontal line with said screw 19. I

The operation of my device as applied to a right-handed inwardly opening door upon the inside thereof. substantially as shown in Fig. 1, is as follows: lVhen the door is in the closed position the roller 15 will be at the top of the incline 22, andtherefore the shaft 13 and the rod 11 will be pulled upwardly and the semaphore will point in vertical direction with its pivot at its lowest point. as shown in the dotted lines in Fig. 1., and neither the semaphore nor the retaining supporting plate 2 nor the opaque cover 18 will be visible from the outside of the door but the opaque cover will be visible from the inside of the door, concealing the semaphore 1.

On opening the door, the roller 15 will move downwardly along the incline 22; the rod 1]. will move downwardly and the spring 17 will exert a push against the semaphore l, causing the same to move sidewardly and to the right, and thereupon, by virtue of the combined effect of the spring 17 and of gravity, fall into a horizontal position. The semaphore t will be stopped at the point where it is in a horizontal position by the sleeve upon the lower right hand screw 19.

Upon closing the door, the roller 15 will ride upwards on the incline 22 and will pull the semaphore up and back behind its opaque cover 18. The method of attaching the device to the door is plainly shown 1n the hereunto annexed drawings, and it s believed that the operation of my device will be fully understood from the her-sin contained description and drawings. I have produced by means of my present invention,

' a highly novel and useful. form of advertising device which presents the following advantages over any similar device known to me, namely by providing an advertising semaphore (1) In which the particular advertisement may be changed at will;

(2) In which the advertisement is never presented except right side up and'in legible position;

(3) In which means are provided for a separate advertisement upon the opaque cover;

(4) lVhich is very easily attached and adjusted to any style of door;

(5) Which is particularly simple in construct-ion and, therefore, can be made rugged without making it expensive; and

(6) In which the suddenness of the appearance of the semaphore increases the attention compellingvalue of the advertisement.

Obvious modifications in the construction of my device, such as for example as having the semaphore spring from a horizontal to a vertical position so as to hang downward- 1y over the top of the door, or the use of translucent signs therein, or of such mechanical equivalents as will occur to a mechanic, are within the scope of my invention, which is to be interpreted and limited only by the hereunto appended claims as viewed in the light of the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. An advertising device comprising a housing fastened to a door, a semaphore pivoted within said housing and concealed therein when the semaphore is in one position, a stop limiting the movement of said semaphore when in a position substantially at right angles to the first position, and means operable by the opening and closing of the door to actuate said semaphore.

2. In an advertising device, the combination of a housing attachable to either side of a door, a. semaphore pivoted within said housing, an operating shaft attached to said semaphore, a compression spring surrounding said shaft and biasing said semaphore toward a horizontal position, and means operated by the closing of said door to bring the semaphore into a vertical position.

3. In a advertising device, the combination of a plate attached to a door, a semaphore pivoted to said plate, flanges on said semaphore. for holding a removable sign, stops limiting the movement of a semaphore substantially from the vertical to the'hoii zontal position, a roller support and shaft attached to said door, a rod connecting said semaphore and shaft, a compression spring surrounding part of said rod and tending to move d semaphore from the vertical position, an inclined plane attached to a door frame engaging said roller when the door is closed, and an opaque cover concealing said semaphore when in the vertical position.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JOHANN 'JAKOB HUBER. 

